Mercedes’ Lucas Auer started the final day of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters at the Norisring in good standings, as the Austrian went fastest of all drivers with 12 minutes remaining in the session.
He was closely followed by an Audi Sport quartet which completed the top five, with them all separated by 0.147 seconds after all drivers had their fair chance of running around the 2.3-km circuit.
Second to Auer was Team Phoenix’s René Rast, a mere 0.091 seconds slower along the banks of the Dutzendteich, as Nico Müller, Mike Rockenfeller and Jamie Green showed good pace.
Yesterday’s race winner Bruno Spengler was the fastest of the BMW contingent in sixth place, just .017 seconds off Green, whilst Maxime Martin was the only other driver to get into the top ten in tenth, behind the Team Abt Sportsline Audi of new championship leader Mattias Ekström.
Robert Wickens and Gary Paffett made it three from Stuttgart to reach the top ten in seventh and eighth, in what was another close session ahead of qualifying, as the entire field was covered by 0.691 seconds.
Edoardo Mortara was 0.069 seconds outside of the top ten in his C63 AMG Coupé in 11th place, ahead of Tom Blomqvist, who was one of the quickest drivers in the earlier part of the session.
Loïc Duval was 13th fastest ahead of defending champion Marco Wittmann and Augusto Farfus, whilst 2010 champion Paul Di Resta was towards the lower side of the timesheets in 16th.
Timo Glock’s session was interrupted partially, due to a technical issue with his M4 DTM, putting him 17th fastest, ahead of Mercedes’ Maro Engel.
Qualifying for race two gets underway at 1400 local time, lasting for 20 minutes.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 47.632 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 32 | 47.723 | 0.091 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 31 | 47.754 | 0.122 |
| 4 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 31 | 47.771 | 0.139 |
| 5 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 47.779 | 0.147 |
| 6 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 47.796 | 0.164 |
| 7 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 35 | 47.848 | 0.216 |
| 8 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 31 | 47.850 | 0.218 |
| 9 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 33 | 47.854 | 0.222 |
| 10 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 47.869 | 0.237 |
| 11 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 32 | 47.938 | 0.306 |
| 12 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 28 | 47.954 | 0.322 |
| 13 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 47.959 | 0.327 |
| 14 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 29 | 47.961 | 0.329 |
| 15 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 48.057 | 0.425 |
| 16 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 29 | 48.076 | 0.444 |
| 17 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 20 | 48.146 | 0.514 |
| 18 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 30 | 48.323 | 0.691 |